Muslims as a race?

In a heated argument between the controversial PKR MP Zulkifli Noordin and DAP MP Chong Eng in Parliament, the former accused the latter of being a ‘racist’ because she ‘had tried to portray the Muslims that protested at the Bar Council forum as aggressive and irrational’. This is in reference to the recent protests against the Bar Council’s forum on ‘Conversion to Islam’ on Aug. 9.

I’m a bit baffled by this ‘equation’ although it’s true that in Malaysia all Malays are by definition Muslim.

But isn’t Zulkifli forgeting that Muslims are a community of believers made up of a diversity of ethnic and cultural origins? Aren’t there ethnic Indians and ethnic Chinese, among others, who are also Muslim in this country?

Isn’t this diversity a richness in Islam, humanity and within the Ummah, something to celebrate about?

Put another way, if we were to take a broader perspective, we would find that there isn’t one particular community that monopolises Islam or dominates the Ummah.

The point here is, ‘race’ doesn’t count for much in Islam. Piety, compassion and a sense of social justice do.

It’s sad that many Malay Muslims still can’t distinguish between race and religion. The religion is not exclusive to the Malays only!

It’s a fact that there’re many times more Chinese Muslims than Malay Muslims in the world. By not being able to distinguish between race and religion, such Malay Muslims are doing a great disservice to their religion in their effort to convince non-Malay Malaysians on the tenets of good Muslims.

It’s time that the politicians stop hijacking their religion for political motives!

Anyways, people who practice Islam are Muslim. It is not a race, but a religion. As individuals above me have already mentioned, many, many races from all different countries around the world practice Islam.